212 PHEASANT. 



24 —CRESTED PHEASANT. 



Phasianus cristatus, Ind. Orn. ii 631. Gm. Lin. i. 741. 



Crax fuscus Mexicanus, Bris. i. 304. Id. Svo.i. 86. Borowsk. ii. 172. 



Opisthocomus, Sasa, Tern. Man. Ed. ii. p. xlix. 



Hoactzin, Raii, 163. Will. 300. Id. Eiigl. 389. Bvf. ii. 385. 



Faisan huppe de Caj'enne, P/. en/. 337. 



Crested Pheasant, Gen. Syn. iv. 720. pi. 64. 



LENGTH twenty-one inches. Bill black; the head furnished with 

 a crest, the feathers of which are of different lengths, the longest 

 three inches, colour dirty brownish white ; beneath black, round the 

 eye bare, and reddish ; upper parts of the body brown ; the under, 

 as far as the belly, rufous white; belly and vent rufous; from the 

 hindhead, to the lower part of the neck behind, each feather has a 

 streak of white down the middle ; tips of the middle and larger wing- 

 coverts white, forming two bars on the wing; the edge of the wing, 

 half way from the bend, white; quills rufous, the first very short ; 

 tail cuneiform, ten inches long, colour of the back ; all the feathers 

 yellow at the ends ; legs black, without spurs behind. 



Inhabits Mexico, and parts adjacent, and said to feed on snakes; 

 it makes a howling kind of noise, is found on trees, near rivers, and 

 accounted an unlucky bird ; met with chiefly in autumn, and said to 

 pronounce a sound not unlike the word Hoactzin. We are told that 

 it may be domesticated, being seen in that state among the natives ; 

 and that it feeds on ants, worms, and other insects, as well as snakes. 

 How far this should be removed from the Genus of Pheasant, on 

 account of its food, we are unable to determine, but we know none 

 which do not readily feed on grain or fruits, which this bird also is 

 said to do. M. Temminck removes this from the Gallinaceous Tribe 

 into that of his Omnivores,* or General Feeders, under the name of 

 Opisthocomus. 



* See Tern. Manuel, pt. 1. p. 105. for the character of the order. 



